


Dueling Stars

by hyruleHistorian



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Crockertier, Gen, Grimbark, OCs - Freeform, shameless insertion of OCs into canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-29 22:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyruleHistorian/pseuds/hyruleHistorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn Rogers isn't quite sure why he's in this new "Alpha" session, or how he got here in the first place. All he knows is, he's found a certain familiar face- and she wants him dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in the works for a while. The idea came forever ago when I was talking with my friend. He and I work a lot on these OCs, and the temptation to work with canon events is awful easy to fall victim to. Especially Jade. I have a personal leaning towards Jade, probably my favorite character, not gonna lie. Finn is my personal OC, and I work a lot on him. And I must confess he shares a lot of her attributes. So, when of course I decided to start thinking about them in the same context... the value returns close friendship, or sometimes more than close (*ahemhemFinnxJadeahem*). And it's a short jump from thinking about Finn and Jade to thinking about Finn and GB!Jade. His reactions came easily to me- they would be identical to my own. So, eventually, some amount of time later... I decided to turn it into a story. This is the result. I took the central idea of their combat, then had to evolve it to answer questions such as 'how it all came to be in the first place, and why, and also what do I need to change to stay canonical' and stuff like that. But regardless. This is what it is, enjoy if it's your cup of tea.

Space. All there was was space. It filled every horizon, stretching in all directions in its infinity. Above was space. Below was space. The same dark view could be seen wherever one turned. Only two things shattered the stellar seamlessness. Two objects shone in the blackness of the void. 

The first was a glowing blue sphere. Far away, it seemed just a pinprick in the vast expanse of space, but its radiance was, while soft, persistent, and it would be easy to believe that its light could be seen for huge distances. It was called Skaia, and it was the center of what would be a solar system if there was a sun. Deep beneath its sky-blue atmosphere was a place called the Battlefield, a checkered planet that changed and evolved as certain things were accomplished. Or was intended to, anyways. Unfortunately, things had gone wrong in this particular instance. The catalysts that were meant to trigger its shifts had never arrived. So, it sat at the heart of Skaia in its unaltered state, waiting for a change that would never come.

The second was two pinpricks silhouetted against Skaia’s glowing orb. As they grew bigger, it became apparent that the dots were in actuality two figures. Both looked to be fairly young, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. One of them was a girl, the other male. And as they both flew through the empty space surrounding Skaia and everything else, it became apparent that one was pursuing the other.

The girl was the one doing the chasing. She had long black hair that, at the moment, was looking horridly unkempt. It flowed down her back along with a double-tailed hood, which was attached to a long-sleeved black shirt and skirt combination. Striped stockings and sparkly red shoes completed the outfit. However, something was strange about the girl. In the midst of her hair, there were two ears- dog ears, right on the top of her head. And where skin was revealed, on her face and neck and hands, there was not to be found any sort of normal hue. Instead of peach or brown or tanned or any other mundane color, her skin was a dark grey. Her name was Jade Harley, and she had orders to kill.

The boy, the pursued, was somewhat similar in appearance. His clothing, a short-sleeved shirt and long pants, was also black. His shoes were also red. The front of his chest bore the same symbol as hers- a six-armed white swirl pattern. But where she had a double-tailed hood, his was a long, long lyrapipe that extended a good two feet beyond him when he was at rest. Which he was not. His name was Finn Rogers, and he was running from the girl who wanted his life. _The girl…. who used to be my friend._

 

Their meeting had taken place many years ago. Over the Internet, naturally, as she lived on some island in the Pacific, and he… well, he was in Adak, Alaska. The smallest, coldest, most secluded pocket of humanity this side of the Antarctic research station. Anyways, after they’d bumped into each other a few times on some forums or other, she’d offered to exchange Pesterchums. Doing so, they’d begun to converse, haltingly at first, but soon just about every day. It turned out she had a lot in common with him. Their temperaments were much the same- optimistic by default, not quick to anger, and generally enthusiastic about most everything. They shared a lot of interests as well. And the strangest thing was, they shared a common dream- of a golden planet, with blue sky above, and clouds that showed pictures.

The more Finn talked with her, the more he enjoyed doing so. She was quirky, vivacious, and really fun to talk to. On days when things weren’t their best, she was always prepared with a silly little anecdote or something that would bring a smile to his face no matter what. As time went on, he began to consider her one of his closest friends.

Then had come the game. One day, he, courtesy of his supergenius friend Brom’s rummage through some corporate servers, had gained a copy of a video game titled Sburb. But it was more than a game- as evidenced by the meteor that had appeared in the horizon on a collision course just after he booted the game up. A meteor which had spontaneously vanished, along with the entirety of the rest of Adak, just before impact, leaving him and his house in an unfamiliar landscape. Disoriented and unsure what was happening, he tried talking to Jade… and found out that she was just about in the same position.

As it turned out, they’d both managed to obtain Sburb. And she recounted a similar experience to his- with the meteor and the house and everything. Apparently it was something the game just did. She mentioned that these new places were personalized planets known as Lands- hers, for example, was the Land of Frost and Frogs. After reading that, Finn had searched his own memories to find that, somehow, he knew the title of his as well- Land of Lakes and Frogs.

And true enough, when he’d looked out his window, that had been what he saw. Lakes and frogs. He could hear the cacophony of croaks already. There were immense numbers of the amphibians, and they frolicked about in the myriad lakes- he would guess that the terrain was easily 60% water. Which was not the best plan- he couldn’t swim a lick, never had been able to, so if he fell in he was certain to drown. _Sure, game. Hahaha, very funny. Give the aquaphobe freaking ribbity Atlantis for a land. Good Goddesses, this is going to be a pain._

Unbeknownst to him, at the other window, a small black monster was attempting to break in. It shattered the glass, but Finn was totally oblivious- until a large chunk of wall tore itself out, flew over, and creamed the imp. Finn turned, startled, looked at the wall, then the puddle of black underneath the chunk, then at his computer. He went over and sent a quick thank you to Anna, his friend and server player.

 

Distracted by this, he’d gone out to examine his land more fully. The next time he talked to Jade, it was a lot further down the line. They’d both learned some important things: First, they were both Space players, she a Witch, he an Heir. This was why they both had the frogs- they were meant to use them in creating… something- neither of them knew what yet. Second, they’d learned about Prospit and Derse, about dreamselves and why they had shared the common dream (both, obviously, were Prospit dreamers), about the Battlefield, and about the Gates- namely, the goals of the game. There was still a lot that confused both of them, though, so they decided to diverge- her focusing mostly on the frog collection, and he on the Gates and enemies and vaguely mentioned Black King and Queen.

The Black King and Black Queen turned out to be the final bosses of the game. Beat them, and you basically won. The gates were for getting the players there as soon as possible, because there was a time limit in the form of a whole lot of meteors. Gathering these and some other information, he logged on to find out what she had to tell him- and couldn’t reach her.

He’d tried everything. She was the one who was always talking about having at least five computers with her at any time- surely not all of them could be malfunctioning. So… something must have happened to her. It worried him, but he just had to hope for the best, and move on with his own dealings.

Which included, by some miracle, ascending.

When he’d first learned about the so-called "God Tier", he immediately knew what he was supposed to do. The lake nearest his house had a large tall island in its center, and atop it sat a structure that could only be his Bed. Unfortunately… there was a lake inbetween it and him. At first, he swore to himself that that was most certainly not happening. But, as the game progressed, the notion began to develop and develop, until, gritting his teeth, he’d decided that the reward matched the risk. So he’d struck out for the island.

He shuddered at the recollection, punctuating it with another glance over his shoulder. _How about we not go into the memory of trying to cross that lake,_ he thought to himself. _How big and scary and watery it was. Also, let’s not remember how the island turned out to be illusion, and I just got suckered into a cheap death. Long story short, I drowned, no need to go into detail. The important thing… is what happened afterward._

 

And what happened afterwards was….. the lake shot into the air. All of it. As if some sumo wrestler the size of a mountain had done an uber-cannonball directly into its center. The landscape for five hundred yards in all directions was utterly drenched. And in the dry lakebed, at the very deepest point… there sat a stone slab. Pillars at each corner. In color, a glossy black. And just above it…. an Heir, ascended.

From that point on, the game was a joke. Flight meant the lakes were irrelevant. His health and other stats rocketed up, and most enemies just crumbled before him. He watched and cheered as first one, then two, then three, of his four friends ascended to God Tier as well, each in some spectacular fashion. Brom faced down his fear of death and died by his own hand on his Bed to become a fully-realized Thief of Mind. Anna barely defeated her Denizen, but was then locked inside its lair as fire sprang up to consume the dwellingplace; in a happenstance just as fortuitous as Finn’s, deep beneath the layer of ash that constituted the floor was the bed preordained for the Witch of Heart. And his third friend, Nick, tried to take on a monster too tough for him, but was carried to his not-so-final resting place by, of all things, his dog Bone. He awoke as Prince of Time.

However… there was the matter of his fourth friend. Kale. Kale had not managed to reach his own godhood- a Rogue of Blood. And this was because, for whatever reason… the game had screwed up. Finn and Brom had dreamselves on Prospit. Anna and Nick dreamt Derse. But Kale… had no dreamself to begin with. And while this didn't necessarily mean he couldn't ascend… it meant things were against him doing so from the beginning. _But who knows? Maybe he would have done so… if all this hadn't happened._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, just exposition. And sorry if the ending point is less than great, chapter breaks are a pain to decide on this one. But... yeah. More to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More exposition. I'm sorry, but... there's a lot to be told about this. It's difficult to strike a balance between plot-relevant information and information that needs to be included so that the setting makes sense. But, still, hope you enjoy.

‘All this’ constituted a strange series of events- strange even for Sburb, master of craftiness, tricks, and all sorts of unexpectedness. Finn had been on Anna’s planet, Land of Glow and Strings, helping her take down a huge enemy. He was right near its oddly-shaped head, whaling on whatever he could reach, when he was all of a sudden on his own Land. Trying to figure out what had happened, he’d talked to first Anna, then Kale and Nick, to find that they’d been restored to their own Lands as well. Confused, he tried Brom… and got no answer.

Nick had been with Brom, so he asked him if he had any idea what had happened to their friend. Nick replied that he was just as confused… and then abruptly went offline. Just like Brom. Now with a definite feeling that something was wrong, Finn informed Kale and Anna of his suspicions. Kale responded sarcastically that they probably both had to go the the bathroom at the same time… and Anna did not reply.

Okay. Now he was scared. The Incipisphere’s Wifi was a constant stream that seemed to come from nowhere at all. It was most certainly not the issue. The odds against multiple hardware failures were entirely unreasonable- especially with Brom, who had built his computer from scratch and had carefully made it 99.99999 and so on to infinity percent crashproof. The only logical conclusion was… something was happening to his friends. And he might be next. 

A noise had distracted him from reading Kale’s response to his worried message. Looking up in the sky… he saw what could only be described as a girl, in red, carrying a huge fork. She’d descended in front of him, and in a voice eerily robotic in quality, demanded he come with her. His response: Why?

She was not interested in providing reasons, it seemed- she simply began to menace him with the weapon she held. At first, he merely brushed the tines aside, but she had quickly stepped up from minor jabs to thrusts that actually seemed designed to take his life. He soon became entirely focused on avoiding these, and as a result… never saw the blow to the back of his head coming. He went down in a burst of green and black.

 

He’d come to surrounded by purple. After a few moments of thinking, he could place his location- Derse. In what appeared to be a prison cell. He quickly came to the conclusion that this would not do, and with a simple exercise of mind, he teleported himself above the moon’s surface. _Okay,_ he thought. _What now?_

He didn’t have long to deliberate. There was a flash, and front of him a girl appeared. A strange looking girl, as things went. Her skin was a shade of curious grey. Her hair was long, black, and wild. Most intriguing, atop her head was a set of what appeared to be dog ears, the same color as her skin. She was looking at Finn with her head slightly tilted, an unreadable expression behind the circular frames on her face. It could have been any one of a number of things- appraisal, curiosity… or study. Then she spoke.

“Hello, Finn. Fancy meeting you here.” 

He looked back at her, a little leery of this girl that was so obviously out of the ordinary. Not only that, her motives concerning him were unknown, and he had a hunch they just might not be the most savory. “Er…. hello….. do I know you?”

The girl gave an amused chuckle. “Do you mean to tell me you’ve already forgotten your friend? That hurts. I might just have to go back and live all alone on my island again. Maybe you’ll remember me then.”

He examined her carefully, and a dim light began to flicker on. Black hair…. glasses… green eyes… his eyes alighted on her clothing. Now that he thought about it, it was awfully similar, chromatically speaking, to his… and, on her front, there was the same six-armed swirl that he knew he bore on his own chest. “...Jade? Is that you?”

She laughed again, with the same sort of amusement. _Strange,_ said something in the back of Finn’s mind. _That’s not the kind of laugh Jade would have. It’s a little… well, a little mocking, honestly._ The thought was ignored as she began to speak. “Of course it’s me, Finn!” He grinned from ear to ear. “Goddesses, it really is great to see you, Jade. When you never got back on, I was so worried about what might have…” 

He trailed off as she turned a death glare onto him. **“I wasn’t finished.”** He involuntarily recoiled a little, and again that little voice chimed in. _Something is amiss here. Jade would not do that._ But its message was lost once more. 

Apparently satisfied, Jade resumed her previous expression. “Now, as I was saying, it’s great to see you too. Now do go on back into your cell.”

Finn blinked. “Beg pardon? I seem to have misheard you.” Jade looked at him not with the same violent intensity as before, but certainly not with the nicest of stares she had in her arsenal. “I’m pretty sure you heard me right. Get back in the cell, Finn.”

He stared at her with a mixture of confusion and... no, it was pretty much confusion the entire way through. “Jade… are you feeling okay? You don’t look very well, with that skin tone and all-” He did not finish his sentence due to her violent interjection. “I’m FINE! I’m great! I’ve never felt better! Now, for the last time, get, in, your, cell!”

He felt the urge to withdraw again, and it was accompanied by a rising feeling that something was not right at all. “Jade, I don’t think you understand… I think something’s after me and my friends… There was this creepy robot girl, and she was threatening me, and she knocked me out somehow, and I’m pretty sure she put me in that cell, and I’m not sure how she got here, or, for that matter how you got here, but I’m fairly certain that what happened to me happened to my friends too, and…”

Again he trailed off as she directed a gaze full of poison at him. “For badness’ sake, will you just **SHUT UP?!!** I know all this already! I’m the one who DID it!!! And you are making me very very annoyed to have to listen to it over again!!! So could you please just BE QUIET so I can monologue properly?????” She heaved a great breath and exhaled again, glaring at him all the while.

Finn, looking severely intimidated by her outburst, resisted the urge to raise his hand. In a voice less sure of itself than his normally was, he said, “You… know what happened? Could you… explain?”

Her hands balled into fists and she inhaled, for a long, tense, moment… and then she breathed out again. Her hands uncurled as on her face grew a small smirk. “...You know what? Sure. I’d be glad to explain. Just give me a moment to tell my other friend that I’m going to be a little while. There is a lot to explain, after all.”

He nodded, some of his confidence returning. “Of course. Wouldn’t want them wondering what happened to you.” She turned away from him, speaking quietly into some sort of wrist communicator. He couldn’t quite make out what the voice on the other end was saying, but he did note it had a tinny quality to it. _Must be cheap hardware. You’d think she’d have alchemized something better._

Her call concluded, she turned back around to face him. “Alright then, Finn. What would you like to know first? How you got here? Why I’m like this? What happened to your friends? What’s going to happen to you? I’ll answer any question you have.” Finn deliberated for a moment. “Hmm… let’s start with the first.”

She nodded. “Okay. That’s quite simple, really. Your entire session was moved and merged with this one. All of your planets are now in this Medium, along with eight others- my session’s, and this session’s. Naturally, we had to make sure we didn’t miss anything, so we had to put you all on your own planets. Sorry if this caused any inconvenience,” she said with a smile. 

He nodded. “I… see, I suppose… but why? Why are we here?” She glanced away for a second, then returned her eyes to him. “Well… I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. I don’t know it myself. But trust me. There’s a purpose. And I think it’ll be quite enjoyable to see what it is.” 

He gave her a funny look.“Umm, Jade…” He spent a moment looking as if he wanted to ask her something, then shook his head. “...Never mind. Okay. Now, you said this was a different session than yours? Did you get dragged here too?”

She shook her head. “No, Finn. We came here of our own volition. We scratched our session, resetting it to create this one. That was the reason you couldn’t reach me for so long- I was flying through some inbetween-dimension to escape it and get here.”

He, again, nodded. “A Scratch? That was right, Nick said something about that. There was this big hourglass on his Land that he said he could use as a great big reset button. Anyways, it’s a relief to know the reason you were uncontactable. For a while.. I was really, really worried about you. I figured something had happened, but I couldn’t do anything but hope for the best.”

She frowned. “Yes. As you can see, I am perfectly fine. Better than fine. Nothing wrong with me at all. Now let’s move along.”

He fixed her with a steady gaze. “Actually, let’s. You say there’s nothing wrong… but you have outright admitted something happened to you, and my instincts have been telling me for a long time now that something isn’t right. And in addition, while ashen skin is all very well and good for vampires in Victorian gothic novels, I must confess it does not entirely flatter you.” 

Jade smiled at this. “Oh, you mean my makeover. Yes, I am quite proud of it. The ears especially. I got those when I ascended by merging with my sprite, which was half my dog. But that’s not important. What you want to know is why I seem so different. Why what I’m doing seems so out of place. And the answer to that starts when I arrived here at this session.

“You don’t know names, or really anything about this place, so I’ll try to make it simple. When I arrived, two of the players from this new session were being threatened by some monster. I think it was some form of their Jack; remember I told you about him some. Anyways, I teleported to them and got rid of the menace. And then it happened.

“You see, Finn, on this Derse, instead of the Black Queen, there lives someone else. Another royal figure. Her title, if and when she chooses to indulge it fully, is Her Imperious Condescension. She used to be Empress of all of the troll race. However, there was a mass cataclysm that wiped them all out. She is the only one of her kind left. But she has plans to change this. 

“Her goals are simple. She is going to hijack this session- indeed, she already has. Instead of creating a universe for the players, it will generate one for her. She will have one of these players recreate the object that will rebirth trollkind. She also has a superior- she wants him out of the way. Then, she can rule unopposed.

“I…. well, you could say I’m an instrument. You’re probably already of, or at least leaning towards, the same opinion as my other ‘friends’; that these goals are a liiiiiitle less than moral. They probably are. I guess you could say Her Majesty is evil too. And she might be. But most importantly, I would most definitely agree with you on all of this… if I hadn’t been on her side from the moment after I got rid of Jack.”

Finn blinked and opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “No, Finn. Don’t say a single word. It wasn’t my choice- heavens no! I never in a million years would have sided with such an obvious evil.” He tried to interject. “Then why-”

 **“I’m getting to that,”** she replied with another venomous glare. “You want to know how I got this way? I’ll give it to you. Plain and simple. Mind control, Finn. She came in and took over. Oh, don’t worry. It was quite painless. Quick and easy- and absolute. I’m afraid me as you knew me simply doesn’t exist anymore. I’m the Empress’s creature now. So as to my role in things? I simply see to it that her will is done. And right now? She wants you in the cell.”

Finn couldn’t believe his ears. The information just refused to sink in. Blindly, he grasped for something, anything, to divert the topic from the reality contained in the grey girl not five feet in front of him. “No… no… wait, you talked about my friends. What happened to them?”

She smirked, now that she could see her words having an effect on him. “As you might have guessed, pretty much the same that happened to you. I took them all to cells down on Derse. Fortunately for me, none of them seem to be as talented as you in escaping captivity. Us Space players really got the long end of the stick, didn’t we?”

Finn ignored the last remark. Gulping, he asked the final question. “So… what’s going to happen… to me?”

Again she smirked at him. “That’s going to be the fun part. As soon as our little dilemma is resolved, I am going to have a chat with the Condesce about determining your fate. Now won’t that be fun? However, I can’t have that conversation until you’re back in your cell, so, if you have no further questions, I would like to ask you to please-”

“Wait, Jade.” He said, looking at her with perhaps the first formation of a smile on his own lips. “So, do I have this right? Nothing’s going to happen to me until I get in that cell?” She gave him a strange look. “Well, yes, so, again, if you could just cooperate-”

He interrupted her again. “Welp, that’s good enough for me.” And without a moment’s pause, he shot off through the air, rocketing away from Derse, his cell, and his used-to-be friend. “What the- FINNNNN!!!!” Jade looked at the rapidly retreating Heir and launched herself after him.

Finn glanced back over his shoulder as soon as he had flown some distance. Sure enough, Jade was after him. However, it didn’t seem like she could fly any faster than he could, so that was definitely a plus. Onward he flew. Looking back again, he allowed himself a small laugh of triumph. It was beginning to look as if he was really going to make it away-

With his vision directed backwards, he never saw what it was he had crashed into. But at such a speed, it was enough to put him out for the count. As he sank into blackness again, he heard, as if through three feet of water, a conversation taking place around him.

_“About time you showed up, Janey. I called you like fifteen minutes ago, you know.”_  
 _“I realize this, and apologize sincerely, Jade. I was… ah… conducting business.”_  
 _“Really, Jane? This one nearly got away from me, and you were off making a buck?”_  
 _“A shrewd businesswoman never misses an opportunity.”_  
 _“...Fair enough. To be honest, I quite enjoyed the chance to monologue. And you should have seen his expressions. Oh, they were beautiful.”_  
 _“I am sure. Let us return him to his cell.”_  
 _“Let’s.”_


	3. Chapter 3

Finn came to, of course, in the cell again, after who knows how long. His head hurt, but the pain quickly faded to a dull background. He examined his surroundings. He wasn’t manacled. There were no guards outside. He didn’t seem inhibited at all. For all intents and purposes, they’d done just what they did last time. _Well, I hope they’re prepared to let me escape just how I did last time._

But just before he warped out of the cell… a note on the floor caught his eye. He walked over to it, picked it up. _Wonder what they have to say- I doubt it’s the number for room service._ His eyes quickly scanned the paper…. and his joke suddenly seemed a lot less funny. 

_Finn,_  
 _Hope you’re enjoying your stay. But of course you aren’t. In fact, it’s a honest surprise you haven’t already absconded right out of here. Nothing preventing you, after all. Or… is there?_  
 _Let me be blunt. Your friends are in cells just like you, Finn. Only they can’t escape. And, while I don’t really want to threaten them... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do._  
 _There’s no reason for any of them to suffer more than they already have. Don’t be a hero, Finn. Just comply. Stay put for a while. You’ll make it easier on yourself, on them, and on me._  
 _-GG_  
 _P.S: Don’t try to be sneaky. I know where everything is at all times- including you. >;D _

Finn slumped against the wall, allowing the message to flutter away. They had him, good and tight. A hostage situation straight out of the movies. Nothing preventing him from turning and walking away… except his friends would suffer if he did. He couldn’t do a thing. He sighed. And then hugged his knees to his chest, and sighed again.

 

He again lost track of time as the empty moments passed in the cell. But after an indeterminate period, the door swung open to reveal his once-ally, now-nightmare. She wore the smirk he was coming to know as customary for her. She looked down at his huddled form. “Well, well, well. What have we here.”

He got to his feet. “Oh, have we finally reached a decision?” He asked, a little dully. “Or is this just a friendly visit to make sure I’m good and broken by your venomous little note?

If anything, the smirk widened. “No, it’s the first. Although, now that you mention it, maybe the second would have been fun too. Oh well. No use crying over missed chances. Follow me,” she said as she turned and walked out the door. After a moment, he walked after her.

A short distance further along, she suddenly turned and seized his arm. Before he could react or protest, the scenery had changed. There were no more purple corridors and purple spires and purple walkways. Instead… Finn was surprised to see his own Land. He turned to Jade. “Explain? Why are we here? What did we decide?”

She grinned. “Explain? Only too happy to! Let’s see here… your friends… I forget the details, but… they’re being attended to as we speak. Your Nick in particular is being given special attention; he’s the main reason we brought you all here. You don’t need to concern yourself with them- none of them are slated for execution. Now you… are a different story.

“See, Finn… it took the Condesce quite a while to decide what to do with you. You are quite powerful, and I don’t mind telling you that. Unfortunately… you have a very sturdy sense of right and wrong, and the Empress tells me that you’re quite resilient to mental leverage as well. She seems to believe that you’d be more of a hindrance than a help, whatever we do to you.”

Finn paused, and his eyes widened and snapped to her. “So… what you’re saying is…” She nodded. “Yep! Finn Rogers…. you have to die.”

 

Finn’s attempted flight was halted by a sudden jerk on his hood. With a yank on the long lyrapipe, Jade brought him back down to the ground and took ahold of his arm again. “Don’t run away just yet! Gosh, it’s not like I’m going to do it here and now! Why do you think I brought you here? If I wanted you dead instantly, it would have been a work of a moment, right there in the cell. You wouldn’t have even seen it coming! No, Finn. I brought you here… to give you… a chance.”

He looked back at her, ceasing his struggle to wrench free of her surprisingly tight grip. “A… chance? What do you mean?”

She smiled. “Well… seeing as you are my close friend, I don’t really want to just off you just like that. I want to have some fun with it! And as it happens, I was all set to have a duel with Dave, earlier, but then I never got the chance. So here’s my offer; you can fight me for your life. When you lose, that’s my fun and the Condesce’s wishes both satisfied. And if, by some miracle you manage to kill me, then you have your shot at freedom! Take the choice, Finn. You’re not liable to get anything better.”

Finn had made no response during the entire offer. A significant portion of his mind had just shut. Locked the doors, drawn the curtains, hung a very polite “Closed” sign on the entrance, and in all other ways basically just given up on the rapidly descending vortex that reality had become. She was talking cheerfully about ending his life. _She_ was cheerfully talking about ending _his_ life. And her bargain… what kind of callous, messed-up deal was that? Rather than straight-up death, she wants to fight him for it? And she made it clear to him that the only way out of this whole twisted scenario was to win. Which meant… killing her. _No. No. And triple no._

One of the negatives must have slipped out of his mouth, because Jade gave him a look. “No? What do you mean, no? There’s no other option. You can fight me and die, or you can die. Plain and simple- and one lets you live longer. Come on, Finn. This is the last time you have to cooperate ever. After this, you can do whatever you want- well, except live.” A momentary smirk passed across her face.

Again he shook his head. “No. I.. don’t care how bad it is, or what you do to me… I’m not fighting you.”

She turned her eyes sad and her expression pouty, extending her lower lip a little. “Come on… pleeeeeeeeeease? I just want one fight, is that too much to ask? Don’t make me beg, Finn. Cause you know I will. All I want is one, it doesn’t even have to be very long… don’t just give up your life without a single care. Where’s the fun in that??”

Finn actually felt a little moved by the face she was making… but then his heart turned hard again. _No. She’s toying with your emotions, trying different tactics. Crocodile tears, that’s all that is. No matter how she tries to sway you, just remember she’s still, somehow, someway, Jade… and you can’t fight that._ “My… my answer is still no.”

She shrugged, her expression returning to its previous state. “Can’t blame me for trying. Alright. If you won’t fight, then I guess you won’t fight. But then again… like I said, it’s not very entertaining at all to just straight-up kill you. So….. I’ll cut you another deal.”

Finn looked at her. “And... that is?”

She smiled back at him. “A ten second head start.”

She had not reached three before the area was entirely Finnless. She gave a small chuckle, took a moment to ascertain his location… and then was off after him.


	4. Chapter 4

_Aaaanyways, that’s how we got here. Scary Jade, chasing Finn, running for my life. Lovely flashback and/or recap, thank you so much to the boys over in the temporal lobe. Because, you know, I really needed to relive the events of the past couple of hours, not counting the time I spent knocked the heck out. But I suppose it kept me from worrying too much about what’s on my tail. Speaking of which…_ He turned to look behind him, and just as quickly turned back again. _Yep, still there. She sure isn’t giving up._

Onward the two flew, in what really could only be described as a large-scale wild goose chase. Neither took nor lost distance. And Finn was getting a little tired. _You wouldn’t think that flying takes effort. Well, maybe it’s just because I’ve had a stressful day, but… I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up. So, if there’s any sort of deity or superbeing listening, I could really…_ “Use…. some…… help…”

His suddenly voiced thoughts trailed off as he looked behind him to see… well, Jade, of course, but… she wasn’t chasing him any longer. He turned to face her, get a better view of what and why. She looked over at him and snapped, “Don’t think you’re getting off! I just… have to take a call.” And she bent her head over her wrist device.

He couldn’t help but snigger a little at the absurdity of the situation. Life or death chase? No thanks, I have a call to take. However, he did decide to take the opportunity to get a little wind back. The pair floated there in the vastness of the void, one talking, the other attempting to recuperate for a pursuit he knew could restart at any moment.

Eventually, Jade let her arm drop back to her side and turned to face Finn, a smirk again on her face. “So, Finn, you still sure you don’t want to fight?” 

He set his gaze on her. “Yes. I won’t do it.” 

There was a green flash, and she suddenly held a piece of fabric in her hand. “Take a look at this. See if you’re so definite then.”

He drifted closer to the cloth… and a sinking feeling began in his chest. He’d seen that before. It was a shirt. Kale’s shirt. The star on the front, made from five rifles broken in half to form points, was unmistakable. However…. this shirt was different. Because this shirt, right in front of his eyes, had three parallel-spaced holes in it. It also had blood.

He just stared grimly at the shirt as Jade began to chuckle. “Yep, thought that would get some reaction. It was his own fault, I’ll have you know. Refused to submit at all. He was just causing all sorts of trouble, bothering the Dersites, ranting all the time… he was warned, and warned again, but he wouldn’t stop. Eventually Janey dear just… had to put a stop to it. Why the glum face, Finn? It wasn’t heroic or- oh, that’s right! He never did ascend, did he? Oh, what a shame… don’t worry, we’ll see to it we put his body back on his Land for burial...”

As she went on, Finn’s hands started to ball themselves up, and he began to just barely perceptibly shake. _You killed my friend. My friend, who wasn’t ascended. My friend, who doesn’t have a dreamself. My friend, who isn’t coming back, not now, not ever. My friend……… how dare you…... how DARE you… HOW DARE YOU-_

Jade nimbly skipped aside, dodging the lunge Finn made at her. “Oh, you did change your mind then?” With a glare of an intensity that nearly rivaled her own personal best, he turned to face her, saying nothing except by his expression.

“Now that’s more like it,” she said with a cruel laugh. Sparking her green aura, she tossed aside the scrap and launched herself to meet him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, short, sorry about that. I had to put a break so the cool stuff could happen next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So funny thing. Because I started with the idea of the fight scene, I ended up writing that first. Then, I was already in motion, so I wrote from there to the end. And then I went back and had to write the beginning to the fight. So, if there's any inconsistencies, apologies, it comes from being unintentionally written Star Wars-style.

His weapon instantly appeared in his hand- a sword anyone could recognize as the Master Sword. But far from being a cheap replica, this was an actual weapon, and he kept it plenty sharp. He brought his other hand up to the hilt as well, sending it cleaving towards the other.

She of course teleported out of the way. “Tisk tisk, Finn. You’ll never get anywhere if you’re that obvious about what you’re going to do.” 

He glared at her. “Shut... up...” he growled between clenched teeth. 

“You need to be more unpredictable- like this.” And she began to spam-teleport all around him, leaving after-images just to confuse him. His eyes darted around the expanse in front of him, watching for when she’d finally strike. 

He felt a sudden acute pain in his back, and turned to find her floating behind him, sharp-nailed hand tinged with red. She laughed. "First blood goes to me. You might not be such a decent opponent after all." He shot himself through the air once more at her, to meet only empty air to the sound of her amusement.

She appeared at a distance from him. "Melee combat is so inefficient, especially when you're talking about me. Let me show you how to do things the _smart_ way.” And she conjured her rifle, sending a volley of shots towards him.

Thinking quickly, he moved a hand in a line in front of him. A black rift, dotted with pinpoints of light, appeared following where his palm had traced, neatly enveloping the bullets heading towards him. The tear closed as soon as it opened, taking the ammo with it. She raised an eyebrow. “Not bad at all, Finn.” He made no response, instead appearing directly behind her and bringing the sword down.

She noticed, tried to turn, but the blade still drew a line of blood and split cloth down her arm. Her eyes narrowed. “Ooh, you’re gonna pay for that.” She vanished, reappearing a safe distance away, and pointed an open palm towards him. And from the palm flew a small sphere, that quite quickly expanded into... a meteor. His eyes widened as the huge chunk of rock bore down on him, and he barely managed to dodge out of the way. The meteor went flying past him, and he could feel the heat as it passed. But he had no time to watch it fly off into the far reaches of the session. He turned his face back towards his enemy, to see her coming towards him at an alarming rate, foot outstretched. 

It caught him in the gut, and he instinctively teleported somewhere. Blinking back tears, he looked around. He was inside the atmosphere of one of the lands- which one he couldn’t tell. No wait, the wind he could feel and the rustling he could hear told him before he could regain focus. Brom’s Land- of Gusts and Pages. Swirling sheets of paper danced around his feet, caught in the ever-present breeze. The landscape spread in hills for all directions around. 

He heard a zap, and he turned to find her there again. “Nice try. Can’t hide, Finn.” He hovered in the air, just above the current of pages, sword at the ready. “Done hiding, Jade.” He made a ‘come at me’ gesture with one hand, and she laughed. “Only too happy to oblige.” She started towards him, then paused. “No, I’ve got a better idea.” And before he could blink or react, she disappeared- and reappeared directly in his face. 

She seized him by his shirt and sent him flying to the ground. Before he could pick his face up from the dirt, she descended, landing directly on the small of his back. He cried out, warping himself to a point some distance away, where he floated, breathing heavily with a wince. That had _hurt._ She gave him no time to recover, coming after him within seconds. 

She reached for him with her pointy nails, going directly for the throat. He reacted the only way he could think, batting away the hand with the flat of his sword blade. She rotated with the blade and instead slammed into him with a shoulder, driving them both back a good distance. 

He warped behind her again, and concentrated. What he was about to do was fairly difficult- heck, he’d never done it except unintentionally, once, a long time ago. But he knew it was part of his arsenal, and he needed everything to have a hope of taking Jade down. He focused, stretching out a hand. Jade turned and flew for him again. He saw her coming, shut his eyes. “Come on, come onnnn....” And he opened his eyes. Tendrils of space were emanating from him and his palm, heading directly for her. The starry rents wrapped around the girl, constricting her, immobilizing her. She let out a snarl as she struggled, the galactic bonds growing tighter. He just gave her a grim glare and continued the flowing black strips. They kept coming until they encased her from about shoulders to knees.

Suddenly, the girl gave a long howl. The black, star-specked wrappings began to glow green as an outline of virulent emerald flame sprung up around her. The intensity of the light increased until it was almost painful to look at. And then, the bonds around her shattered, were shredded into nothingness by the burst of raw power she released.

Blinking away reddish afterimages from his eyes, Finn felt himself be grabbed around the throat and driven down into the ground once more. Jade pinned him to the ground, and he saw her hand come back for a coup de grace that would put an end to this battle, and, not to put too fine a point on it... to his face. Gathering his scattered wits about him, he teleported just in time to avoid the attack. Once again he appeared behind Jade, bringing his weapon across towards her unprotected back.

And found his blade countered by another. She’d reversed direction in time to block his sword with one of her own. He looked down his sword at the other one. It was rainbow striped all over, and honestly looked like something out of a nursery, if a rather strange and/or violent one. Her own eyes traced up the length of her weapon as well, and they both locked gazes with each other in the middle. For one moment, neither made a move. Then with a twist, she flipped his sword out of his hand, going for a straight thrust in his abdomen. He dodged, summoned his sword back, and then the fight began in earnest.

His sword became a blur of silvery-blue metal, hacking, thrusting, cleaving, at head height, down towards the legs, seemingly everywhere at once. But surprisingly, she was always able to counter, to parry, to dodge his attacks. _Man, I didn’t know she was this good with a sword._ Almost as if she was reading his mind, she spoke. “There’s lots about me you don’t know, Finn.”

He locked eyes with her once more, not wavering his gaze as the maelstrom of silver and color between them raged for several minutes. Now was it just him, or were things coming a little slower now than they had initially? Was she getting tired? _Good- tired opponents make mistakes._ He disengaged the fight, dropping back a ways. She remained stationary, and she kept her gaze on him, holding her toddler’s cutlass at the ready. But surely the tip was dipping lower than it had previously. 

He circled her slowly, maintaining a ready position, searching for an opening. And then he found one. He rocketed forward, and she expertly brought the sword between them. He feinted to the side, and she took the bait. As soon as he moved the other way, he saw her eyes narrow and knew that she knew she’d been bamboozled. But it was too late to shift her guard, and a deep cut appeared in her side.

Her face twisted in half pain, half anger. She let loose another blast of that green energy, and it shot Finn back, singing his clothes and hair. She put a hand to her side, attempting and failing to staunch the blood. “You... will die painfully... I will personally... see to it......” She spat. He floated at a distance, sternly looking at her. And then once again she was in his face.

This time instead of her seizing him, he felt a curious sensation. His opponent grew, and grew, until she grasped him in her huge hand. _Wait... she’s not big... I’m tiny._ Her grip tightened around him, and it began to hurt. His hands- and sword- were pinned to his side. The compression increased, and he gave a yell. She intended to crush him, no doubt about that. It wouldn’t be long before something gave.

Smirking at the miniature Heir in her palm, Jade squeezed harder. She could snap his spine like a toothpick. She grinned, watching his expression. She held him, tighter and tighter.... and then she held nothing. 

Like a Cheshire Cat in reverse, the grin disappeared until there was nothing left but the girl, who instantly began to look around, sword coming back up to a ready position. Where was he? He hadn’t warped, she could tell. She was pretty sure he couldn’t become invisible, either. But the fact remained- he wasn’t there any longer.

Finn, in the meantime, had equally no idea what had just happened. He’d been having the life squeezed out of him, and then darkness had folded over him. And suddenly he hadn’t been in her hand any longer. _Actually, come to think of it.... where_ am _I?_ He felt curiously spread out. He wasn’t just seeing one viewpoint of the girl, he was seeing several. He couldn’t see his body if he looked down. All he could see was- space. _What the heck just happened?_

Then, he coalesced. There was no other word for it. His scattered viewpoints combined, his strangely diffuse consciousness ceased to be so. Anyone who had been privy to watching the scene would have observed snaky, starry wisps gathering together, seemingly coming straight from the space around them, and forming a human outline directly behind Jade.

He looked down at his hands, ensuring that he had them again, then sent them both to the leather-bound grip of his weapon, bringing the wing-like crossguard smack down onto the other’s head.

Jade saw stars. Bursts danced across her vision as her head screamed. Her hand instinctively flew to the point of contact- she felt no blood, but that was sure going to smart. She shook her head to clear her sight, watching as Finn drifted in the air, eyes focused on her, weapon at the ready. 

He watched as she blinked a couple times more, then focused on him. If he’d been thinking rationally, he would have noticed that her momentary hurt expression was heart-wrenching, almost like a puppy who’d been kicked. But he wasn’t thinking- at all. The instant he stopped letting this emotion drive him would be the instant he lost this fight. He couldn’t fight Jade while he was thinking about things. So when she gestured at him to attack, he instantly launched himself at her.

Time seemed to slow. He closed the gap between them, bringing his weapon across in a horizontal slash. Her eyes shifted from him, to the sword, and her hand came up into the blade’s path. She stopped it. She actually stopped his sword, just with her hand. A thin cut appeared on her palm and leaked blood, tainting the blade’s edge. And as he watched in growing disbelief, she gave a powerful jerk, and his weapon slipped from his grasp. She took the sword in both hands, putting the other at the ricasso between blade and crosspiece. And then she broke it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really had a lot of fun with this chapter. Also some credit goes to sylphofbreath, who gave me some ideas for Finn's powers from her own OC who is also an Heir of Space. She writes great stuff, so go check her out sometime. I had one more thing I wanted to say... what was it..... oh yes.  
> *insert dramatic chapter break here*


	6. Chapter 6

The noise the sword made as it broke was a curious one. Like the sword, it was metallic and sharp. It resonated around the landscape as she dropped both shards, the first a naked, shortened blade, and the second a hilt with a jagged-ended steel protrusion, down to the ground far below. Finn watched them fall, and a part of him fell with them. The battle mist subsided, the red left his vision, replaced by a shattering realization. Chief among its many points was “Oh my Goddesses, what did I just do to Jade,” but this was almost drowned out by the cacophony of other thoughts, all of which fell under the general heading of pure and unrefined terror.

For perhaps the first time, he saw her clearly. Up until now, he’d been distracted or directly engaged in fighting- not really observing. But now, he was able to take in every intimidating detail. And there were plenty of them to go around- there seemed to be no end to her nightmare attributes.

She floated there in her terrible majesty. Around her blazed the corona of emerald fire, frightening in its intensity. His face and arms were prickling with the waves of heat it shed. At her back was her long, long, hair, looking unkempt and wild. Her skin, that unnatural shade of grey no human being’s should ever rightly be. Her small round glasses reflected him and reflected the unbridled lime flames surrounding her, while at the same time providing terrible portholes to the eyes behind them. The eyes which burned with the wrath and raw power of twin green suns. The eyes which were narrowed in correspondence with the snarl on the rest of her face. Her lips were drawn back, revealing teeth more like a wolf’s than a human’s. The incisors were decidedly longer, for one. The extra set of ears atop her head were flattened back in anger, and a low growl came from the girl’s throat. In addition to the visible flames, she radiated an aura of undiluted ferocity, of total ferality. The gentle-natured girl he'd once known was now this monstrosity, this terrifying beast. And every last inch of her hatred was directed to him.

He gulped, shaking himself out of his reverie. The only sensible thing to do was flee, and flee he did. Snarling behind him, she pursued. She quickly realized that this was going to be just as futile as last time, and teleported to the space just in front of him. He blinked in shock, and tried to backpedal, but he was within her range before he could do a thing. She took the sword again and sliced towards his chest.

He saw the point coming, and knew it was too late to avoid it. But at the last second, he had an idea, and the blade's arc was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a shield- the other specibus he'd equipped so long ago.

The shield he had currently was an interesting alchemization he'd made- he’d taken a metal shield he owned and, just for the heck of it, crossed it with a Tesla coil he’d been given by Brom. The result was a shield with two small protrusions on the face. The shield, given the name Arcwielder, had the ability to bounce lightning between said protrusions, making defense a whole lot more of an offensive affair. Of course, it still did quite well as a basic shield, which was why it quite possibly had just saved his life.

She looked surprised as her slice was intercepted, but drew the sword back, swinging again and again, hacking at the shield- which thankfully remained intact. “I don’t want to fight you anymore, Jade!” He cried from behind the cover of the small barrier. She made no response.

After several ineffective hits, she apparently realized that it, too, was a pointless effort. The sword disappeared, and she directly seized the shield with her hands. Using strength that was unnatural, she tore the face loose from his arm straps, and threw it behind her without a second glance. Equally abruptly, he turned, discarding the loose straps, and took off again. He was now minus a shield, and this was not good. Everything was going wrong. She was countering him at every turn. And because he wasn’t trying to kill her, at least not anymore, well... he was reminded of a quote that he’d seen somewhere (he couldn’t exactly take any more brain cells off the task of watching her to remember where) that fitted the occasion quite well. _I have to be lucky every time... She only has to get lucky once._

His flight continued unabated, never gaining distance on her, never losing distance. _We’re right back at the beginning. This can’t go on forever._ Almost involuntarily, as his body raced about the new session, his mind began to wander. Wander back to the Jade she’d been before. Remembering their first meeting over the Internet. Remembering how they’d discovered just how much they shared. Remembering their parallel discoveries as they’d both played the game. Remembering the funny jokes she told, the silly little emoticons, the stories about growing up on an island with only her dog for company. A wave of sadness came over him. _Jade... oh, Jade, what happened to you..._

And he decided, then and there, he was done. Done fighting her, done running from her. He spontaneously came to a halt, and Jade flew directly over him. She brought herself to a stop several yards past him, and turned back around. “Why aren’t you running anymore, Finn? I thought you’d finally come to terms with your cowardly nature.”

And he answered her quietly. “Done running, Jade.” 

She smirked. “Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe you would have lived a little longer if you had. But instead, you’ll die. Like the fool you are.” And she came towards him. Her eyes locked onto him, and she raised the hand that had taken flesh from his back, preparing for the moment that would end it all. “Jade....” he looked her straight in the eyes, earnestly and a little bit sadly. “What is it?" she snapped. "Last words? Make them quick.” He said nothing. But he drifted just a little closer and wrapped the darkened girl in his arms. He held her tight into the hug and shut his eyes. A wince grew on his face, expecting the sharp pain of disembowelment at any moment.

But it didn’t come.

Jade was confused. A hug? For her? Was going to be his last gesture on the face of the universe? Why? But it was more than that. Something was amiss in her mind. And it showed when she mockingly returned the embrace, reaching around him not as a hug, but to lacerate his back. She couldn’t. Her hand quivered behind him, almost as if it was fighting her as she tried to make it open his skin.

GG: you wont do this

Where had that come from? The thought had appeared in her mind unbidden, like someone had spoken it. But nobody was around but her and him, and he hadn’t said a thing. He was putting his head onto her shoulder, and the wetness she could feel told her he was crying. _Weak._ He had always talked about courage being his power, his driving force, but when she’d appeared, he’d broken instantly. He was just a fake. And he needed to die. Her Condescension had decided he needed to die. She didn’t dare, couldn’t dare, disobey her. So why couldn’t she kill him?

GG: i wont let you

_Who was SAYING that?_ It was clear somebody else was speaking, but not out loud. It wasn’t the Condesce’s voice, that was for certain. _It’s not important. Just destroy him._ She tried to pull back, free herself for a better position to attack. He wouldn’t let her go. He just clung to her, eyes shut and leaking. And she couldn’t pull free.

GG: let me go

Let me go? What? This made no sense. Certainly it was a thought running through her mind, but... this, this other voice... she got the feeling it wasn’t talking to Finn. It was talking to her. _...No. Wait. Not her. It couldn’t be her. There’s no way. It’s impossible for her to have survived. She doesn’t exist, can’t exist any longer. This body is mine!_

Finn dared a quick glance. Cracking one eye open, he peered up at her. Her expression of cruelty had disappeared, almost- no, it was there. But- it was flickering. Like something was interrupting her. Her eyes were straight ahead of her- staring off into emptiness. What was going on? He risked another peek. And where hope had been destroyed, the teeniest, dimmest, little glimmer seemed to glow into existence.

GG: i want my home back

Jade took her attention entirely off of Finn, devoting all of it to quelling the seditious little thoughts, and, most importantly, ascertaining their source. _Oh, alright, so the girl wasn’t destroyed utterly. Some small scrap of her hid in a corner. The point is, her will is gone. She was exterminated, and a leftover remnant is being a thorn. But that’s all it’ll do. Make a little noise before it burns itself out. Then she really will be gone._

Finn didn’t really know what to do. He was having a hard time accepting the fact that he was still alive. He was sure, when he’d come up and hugged her, that it would be the last and worst mistake he’d ever make. But it was worth it, preferable to the other fates in store for him. If she wanted him dead, she’d get him dead. But on his own terms. Yet, somehow... it was looking as if she didn’t want that so much after all.

GG: i want my friend back

_No. Go away. You’re a fragment. Just a memory of the girl who was. Get back to your little hiding place!_ There were some serious issues going on. And, for the first time, Jade, this Jade, was scared. Because Jade, that Jade, wasn’t going away. It had started as a whisper, but it was slowly gaining power, despite, no, seemingly even proportionate to, her best efforts to submerge it again.

Finn’s eyes opened fully. Something was happening with Jade. He could feel her trembling in his arms. Her lips were moving, talking to nobody. Her eyes... her eyes were different. Was there something there that wasn’t there before? A lessening of the coldness? A... a light? He tightened his embrace, just in case.

GG: and i want you out of me

This wasn’t good. This _really_ wasn’t good. Curse the girl, she wasn’t dead after all! She’d been displaced, destroyed. She should have stopped EXISTING. But somehow she’d hung on. Hung on to what? How? And she was clawing her way into her mind again. She was defying every ounce of mental force thrown at her! From not one, but _two_ direct channels into her brain! There was no way! It was impossible! There was a jolt and a jostle, and the secure grip on the other’s mind began shaking and cracking. _Impossible, I say! IMPOSSIBLE!!!!_

)(IC: aw glub

And Jade opened her eyes. Actually, physically, opened the eyes that belonged to her. Something that hadn’t even been conceivable to her for who knows how long- it was almost certainly a matter of hours, but it had felt like an eternity. Each minute a thousand years, trapped in her own skull. Watching someone wear her skin, move her about like a puppet, make her do despicable things. But at last infinity had found an end, her chains were gone, and she was free again! She returned Finn’s hug for real- no fakery involved, an actual warm celebratory comforting embrace.

Finn opened his eyes again when he felt his hug being returned. And witnessed a warming sight. The grey was draining from the skin of the girl he held. Her extra ears were returning to snow-white. Her eyes were shining pure again, the poison-green hue that had been such a terror replaced with a simple lime- a verdant green of life, of growth, not of destruction. But the most warming sight was the face. The face which had been taunting him, scaring him, at odds with him, ever since he’d arrived, was turning to a small smile, almost of triumph. Jade belonged to Jade again. He couldn’t keep himself from laughing as the embrace came into being. “You’re back.” She looked at him with a smile. “I am.”

He hugged her tighter, and she matched him for it. The hug continued until, gently, he winced as her hand brushed across his fresh back wounds. She automatically withdrew a little. “Whoops! Sorry... about.... that.........” Her voice disappeared, as did her smile. She took her hand back, holding it in front of her eyes with a stare that was almost disbelief. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, then back to her hand. His own smile disappeared too, as he looked into her eyes and saw no happiness in them. “Jade...” She shook her head, drifting backwards, gaze still locked on him. “Jade, it’s okay, come ba-” But she turned away, and as he tried to approach her, she teleported just before his outstretched hand could touch her.

“Jade, come back!” He looked all around. She was nowhere to be seen. He flew across the voidscape, calling out her name and looking wildly about. The only sights that greeted him were emptiness, and, above, the cyan sphere of Skaia. He tried to sense her using his spatial powers. Nothing- she was most likely using her own abilities to mask her location. Time lost all meaning as he crossed and recrossed empty space, shouting her name over and over again. But Jade was nowhere to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I made that alchemization up entirely on my own. Not bad, don't you think?


	7. Chapter 7

He eventually found her on her land. A light snow was falling, and the air resounded with the noise of amphibians, just like his own planet. Jade was at the base of a large tower- her home. Her back was to the smooth white walls, her arms were crossed and resting on her knees, and her face was inbetween them, turned toward the ground. The ears atop her head were drooping, not standing straight as they usually did. Her long black hair was flowing down her back and sides, still unkempt. But instead of looking wild, now it just looked pitiable. Her expression couldn’t be seen, but her shoulders were shaking. Slowly he descended, red shoes touching the ground ever so lightly. She made no response.

He began to speak, in a soft voice. “Jade, I-” 

But she violently interjected, not looking up. “Get away from me, Finn! I’m dangerous!” 

He held out an open palm. “Jade, calm down-” 

Again she shouted at him, her words muffled. “No! Leave! You’re not safe here!” 

He took a step closer. “Jade, it’s okay, I’m not here to-” And then she exploded.

Her head whipped up at him, revealing tears and trails of tears all over her face. “No! It’s not! It’s not okay! I don’t know if it’ll ever be okay again! What I did was inexcusable! And some of it is never gonna be okay! Ever! I attacked you! I tried to kill you! I tried to kill John! I tried to kill the Mayor! I watched as someone who I had turned evil killed Karkat! And I killed your friend! You want to know the real truth? That call was Jane asking what to do! He was making trouble… so I said to kill him! So, really, when you get right down to it, I killed your friend! I caused so many problems, and so many of them are not ever going to heal! I’m dangerous! I’m a monster! Nobody is safe around me! Especially not you! Get away from me! And stay away! Just... stay away.” She turned her face away and broke down into incoherent crying.

He paused for a moment, then slowly stepped closer. The small snowdrifts shifted underneath his feet. He knelt beside her, and set a hand on her shoulder. She shoved it away, but it was half-hearted, he could tell. He set it back there, and she did it again. But he was persistent, and after a few more tries, he was not rebuffed. He cleared his throat.

“Jade... I don’t think you’re a monster.” 

She didn’t look up. “Tell that to your back. Tell that to Kale.” 

He shook his head. “That was someone else, Jade. It wasn’t you. It can’t have been you. You aren’t responsible for a single bit of your actions.” 

She flung her hand out towards him. “Then why are these nails red? I’m tainted, Finn. Whatever I was controlled by, that’s still not enough to change things. My hands used that cutlass. My hands broke your sword and your shield. My hands nearly broke you! My fingers were on the trigger of the gun. Back when I lived on the island, I told Dave once that I would never aim at an innocent person. But I did, I shot at you, and I wanted so badly to kill you. That’s the worst, Finn. That someone else? They were me. They felt exactly like me, and for a long time I thought they really were me! I thought I was them. I couldn’t tell that anything at all was different, what they wanted I wanted, what they hated I hated. I loved it. Being evil felt so good, and I didn’t know to feel any different. So what if that is me, that really is, inside, and all this goodness is just fake!”

He took her bloodied hand in both of his, grabbed a handful of snow, and began to clean it-well, sort of. “Jade... no. That’s not it at all. You’re the best person I know- who you are isn’t fake. This sort of thought is just what that Condescension lady would want you to think. You don’t need to lose hope. But above all you can’t lose faith in yourself. Because then she’s won, with or without you on her side.”

The snow slowly took the red from off of her nails. “See... it comes off, Jade... look, the skin isn’t red. It’s the same as it’s always been. You aren’t marked forever. Now listen to me. You can’t believe it was you. No matter what you might be thinking. You aren’t that person, and you never could be. That feeling was brought on by nothing more than a vile and evil ambush that hijacked your brain and body. It was someone else in there, couldn’t you feel it? Someone and something alien to you. You can’t be held responsible for what it did, and how it made you feel. You mustn’t. Because it was. Not. You.” He let go of her cleaned hand.

She turned her head to look at him. Water was filling her green eyes to the point where they seemed twice as large. “Does it matter if it was me or not? You’re still injured. I’m still injured. Your weapon and shield are both broken. Everything’s broken. I destroyed so much. And your friend... he’s still... I still...” She faced away from him again. 

He gulped and set a hand on her shoulder once more. “I... it’ll be hard to do without him, but... it wasn’t your fault. It just wasn’t, you can’t think it was. I know that fiend warped your mind, but you can fix it. You can tell the truth from the lies. You can find just who Jade Harley is, and who she isn’t. And who she isn’t… what she isn’t… is the one to blame for this mess. Please, Jade... you know who you are.”

Her reply was soft, made more difficult to hear because she wasn’t looking at him. “No.... I don’t.”

He sighed, then stood and raised his hand. A wave of star-dotted blackness enveloped them both, and when it cleared, they were up in Jade’s room. She was in the same position, but on her bed. Confused, she brought her head up to see what had happened, and in doing so locked eyes with Finn. He nodded. “Yes. You do. Look around you. This is who you are. And not anything or anyone else.” He gestured to the surroundings. 

 

Her eyes stared around the room like she was seeing it for the first time. Over there was her eclectic bass- how long had it been since she’d played it? Right next to it was that silly flute- the one she totally couldn’t use, and kept to just fool around with. Over near that, there was a table, the one that was full of all her various projects and ideas and tinkerings.

She shifted her gaze to a different corner. There was the pile of her Squiddle plushes. That had remained intact for pretty much all three years. All around the room were the pots and bunches of flowers, carefully and lovingly maintained every day on the battleship. She saw that some of the more delicate ones had begun to wilt already, and she felt a pang. She’d never have let that happen.

Her eyes alighted on a furry poster and she smiled a little in spite of herself. So long ago, when she’d been interested in that sort of stuff… she gave her left dog-ear a twitch. She’d never imagined she’d be kind of one herself.

As she looked around her, she realized that Finn was right. Seeing this room, she really did feel, well… like herself again. This really was her. All these things were her. She wasn’t that fiend and murderess. She was Jade Harley, Witch of Space. Jade Harley, island girl. Jade Harley, riflewoman, gardener, budding scientist, and not anyone’s servant. And most importantly, she was Jade Harley the vivacious, the irrepressible, the one who was never more than two steps below exuberant. And it was time to be herself again.

She took her arms off her knees, and swung her legs off the bed. She stood up, hair and long double hoods flowing down her back. Finn met her eyes with a smile. “Welcome back, Jade. For real this time.” And he held his arms wide.

She accepted the embrace, and they hugged. She didn’t care that as he hugged her, he brushed against her hurt side. And he didn’t care that his own wounds sent him some very pointed complaints when her arms crossed them. They hugged because she was safe, and he was safe. It was true that everything wasn’t back to normal, everything wasn’t okay, and there were still plenty of problems. But while they hadn’t won the war, they’d definitely won a battle, and it was a pivotal one. So when they disconnected, they bore matching smiles. 

He remained in silence for a moment, then looked at her. “So… what now?” 

She grinned. “What now? Now… we go visiting. Your friends need rescuing. My friends need to see that I’m back. And Her oh-so-mighty Imperious Condescension, may she trip over her ridiculous amounts of hair and fall on the point of her trident…. needs a good kick in the pants.”

Finn nodded, then paused. “Hmm… you sure that’s a good idea? Don’t get me wrong, I can’t even think of that woman without wanting to give her a nice present of edged metal, but… do you think we could take her?” 

Jade laughed, a melodious, carefree laugh. “Don’t you?” 

He slowly smiled. “You may have a point.” 

She nodded, and gently spoke. “Witch and Heir? Together? I think there’s not a thing that could stand in our way.”

He grinned suddenly. “Then let’s do this.” And his right arm suddenly bore another shield, one with a red bird emblazoned below three golden triangles. In his left hand appeared another Master Sword, this one the blade wielded by the Hero of Winds. He smirked. “What, did you think I didn’t have the complete set?” She rolled her eyes with a smile. He lifted his sword to the sky, and a wave of specked darkness obscured all vision, until all there was… was space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's that. Hope you enjoyed this little bleedover into canonspace. It was a long time in the works. But I think it was worth it. And with any luck, you guys do too.  
> (P.S: And once they freed Jane from the tiara, she used her life power on Kale and he got better. Just in case you were worried.)


End file.
